"Transport for London is to scrap a phone line that allows Boris bike users to be charged premium rates when they report faults with the scheme."

See full story here:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/boris-bikes-to-scrap-premium-rate-line-aft...

Any number that imposes a Service Charge on callers is a "premium" number, irrespective of whether the scheme pays out hard cash to the call recipient in a revenue-share arrangement.

The Service Charge causes the cost of the call to be greater than that incurred by calling an 01 or 02 number. Geographic calls are "inclusive" for many callers, and this applies whether they are using a landline or mobile to make the call. The "normal" cost-per-minute of calling a geographic number is therefore ZERO.

0843, 0844, 0871 and 0872 are clearly "premium" numbers. Additionally, in most cases, the Service Charge is large enough to allow a revenue share payment to be made to the called party after covering the cost of the interactive ("1, 2, 3" menu, etc) call features and other technical features used in handling the call. These numbers use the same payment system as found on 09 numbers, but with a lower level of Service Charge or premium.

0845 numbers are also "premium". The associated 2p/min Service Charge never results in a revenue share payment, as it merely covers the costs of the interactive and other technical features used in handling the call. 0845 calls are normally expensive. Mobiles usually charge up to 41p/min. Landlines often charge up to 10p/min. BT is over-generous and relieves the caller of having to pay a per-minute rate for the call by subsidising the Service Charge from the monthly call plan subscription and designating these as "inclusive" calls. This is an unusual arrangement, not the "normal situation".

0870 numbers are confusing. They're expensive from mobiles and sometimes inclusive from landlines. Ofcom's 2009 price changes were voluntary. Mobile operators ignored them. Luckily, Ofcom has seen the light and these numbers will return to revenue sharing status with a Service Charge (around 10p/min?) under the new "unbundled tariff" system. They might not be premium numbers now, but they will be soon enough.

The various non-geographic arrangements, as they will exist at that time, will confirm and highlight that all 084, 087 and 09 numbers are "premium" numbers. It is the presence of the Service Charge that will define them as such.

Once the new system is in place, the question to ask the various businesses that continue to use these numbers is "Can you justify that charge?". Many will not be able to do so.

Indeed, a small number of businesses and organisations have already seen which way the wind is blowing and are jumping ship right now. This number can only increase once Ofcom finalise the "unbunded tariff" details within the next few months and once BIS pushes CRD through to become law in December 2013.